


An Unexpected And Welcome Surprise

by afteriwake



Series: I'd Like It If You Stay [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2014-01-08
Packaged: 2018-01-08 01:10:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1126590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She had finally broken it off with Anderson and went to drink away the hurt of it all. She hadn’t expected company, and she certainly hadn’t expected the turns the evening would take.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unexpected And Welcome Surprise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Doctor_WTF](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doctor_WTF/gifts).



> One of the many fics I wrote for **sherlockmas** over on Livejournal. My recipient, Doctor WTF, asked for Lestrade/Sally fic. I've mentioned the couple in other fics but never written them in a fic. I actually enjoyed it a lot.

Her entire love life had been a string of men wrong for her. It wasn't that she didn't love them, or that she didn't deserve to be loved. She just picked the wrong men, the men who didn't love her back, or didn't love her enough for something...more. Most of her relationships boiled down to sex with affectionate feelings with little commitment. When push came to shove, as it inevitably did, she was always the one left with the broken heart. Anderson had just been the latest. She had grown to love him, she really had. Even if it had all started out as a mistake, a drunken shag that never should have happened, it had grown into something. And she had been content for a while, but when she wanted more, when she _told_ him she wanted him all to herself, he had ended it. Given her some story about trying to reconcile with his wife. Maybe it wasn't a story, but she hadn't cared. She'd nodded, said that was fine, then went to the nearest pub as soon as she could to drown her sorrows.

She hadn't expected company. She hadn't much wanted it, either, but when Lestrade cleared his throat to get her attention and nodded to the seat next to her she bit back a sigh. He was a good man, he really was, but he had been hurt by a cheating wife and he didn't really need to hear her vent about how much it had hurt to only be seen as the other woman, to not have her needs valued at all. But still, she shrugged and he slid into the seat, taking a sip of his own pint and saying nothing for a time. Finally, after their pints were halfway done, he spoke. “It's his loss, you know.”

She sighed. “Yeah, I know. That's what I tell myself every time one of my relationships ends. I'm better than him, I deserve better, but then it all boils down to the fact that I'm not what they want. I'm not good enough.”

“That's bollocks and you know it, Sally. You deserve better than being the side dish.”

Sally smiled at him faintly. “The side dish?”

“Well, you know, he already has the main course. You're the extra on the side.”

“Yeah, that about sums it up,” she said with a sigh, taking another sip of her pint.

“I'll make sure I don't take him on a case if I can help it, give you space so you don't have to deal with him.”

“Thank you, Greg,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

“I like you more than him anyway,” he said with a grin. “He always seems so pompous.”

“He does, doesn't he? Puffed up and all that.” Her grin faltered a bit. “Sherlock always knew how to take him down a peg or three. I almost wish he was still around.”

“I know what you mean.” They didn't talk about it much, the topic of Sherlock's death at St. Bart's. There was so much associated with it that left a bitter taste in her mouth, as though voicing her suspicions had caused him to jump. She hadn't even told him directly, but she had wondered if he had known what she thought when he took a flying leap off the roof. She knew Lestrade felt it more acutely; towards the end, after Dartmoor, she was fairly sure Lestrade had started to consider Sherlock a friend. Whether Sherlock had considered him one in return the world would never know now; if the man could have had more friends than John Watson she would be surprised.

“Are you still trying to prove he wasn't a fraud?” she asked, taking another sip of her beer.

“I think it all hinges on the other man, the one on the roof. There has to be a connection somewhere between Sherlock and James Moriarty and everything that happened on that roof. I don’t think Sherlock jumped because he was depressed or he hated his life. That Moriarty had some kind of hold over him. I just need to find it.”

“Don't put your job in jeopardy over this,” Sally said. “I like you too much to lose you. You're the only decent man in my life.”

“So I'm just decent?” he asked with an amused grin.

“You know what I mean, Greg. You're a stand up guy. You wouldn't hurt someone. You'd give a woman your all, and you'd be patient and warm and loving. Any woman would be lucky to have you.”

“My wife certainly didn't feel that way,” he pointed out.

“Sorry, but your wife's a prize idiot,” Sally said. “She didn't deserve you. You deserve a woman who will love you as much as you love her, always and forever.” She took another sip of her beer. “Just like in the fairytales. Hell, you deserve a happy ending more than I do. Maybe you'll get lucky and get one someday.”

“What about you?” he asked. “Don't you think you deserve a happy ending?”

“I'm going to die an old maid in a house full of cats,” she said with a slightly amused look on her face. “They're going to eat me when I pass because I'll have no friends or family looking out for me, and when I die no one will know. No one will mourn me because I'm a plague on all men.”

He took a long sip of his beer. “You're a good woman, Sally. It's just your taste in men that's awful.”

“So what do you propose I do? Take a self help class to figure out what I really want out of life? Avoid all the scum of the earth, all the married men who want a tart on the side? Hope and pray I get enough of a personality change that I can make friends who tell me when I make the wrong choice?” She shook her head. “I don't want the end I just said. I want to be in love and be loved in return until the day I die, but that's not how it's going to play out for me.”

“Well, you could always go out on a date with me,” he said. Then he paused. “A guy like me, I mean.”

“I couldn't go out with you, even if I wanted to. You're my boss, Greg. That's against the rules, and it would mean sneaking around and I really don't want to go through all that hassle again.”

“I'm only your boss until you get promoted,” he said.

“Yeah? And when is that going to happen? Never?”

“Try next week.”

Sally's eyes got wide. She had taken the exam to become a detective inspector but she had not gotten her hopes up. “I passed?”

“With flying colors, Sally,” he said with a grin. “Next week you'll stop being my subordinate and you'll be DI Sally Donovan. You'll head up your own team, pick your own cases. I fought for you and for once I'm relieved to say they listened to me.”

“Thank you so much,” she said, setting her drink on the table and turning to give him a hug. He hugged her back, and it felt good. It felt as though this was what she should have in her life: solid warmth from a compassionate and caring man who would give his all to make the woman he chose happy. Too bad she couldn't have it with him, she thought sadly. He'd be a good catch for some lucky woman.

When they pulled apart he looked at her. “Next week means...I mean, when you get your promotion you can...and I could...” Then he hung his head and sighed. “I'm making a hash of it all,” he murmured.

“Making a hash of what, Greg?” she asked, looking at him intently.

“I watched you and Anderson and I was jealous,” he said. “I knew he would never have enough brass ones to leave his wife, and if you hadn't said anything he would probably have kept you on the side until he tired of you. He is not a good man. I...am.”

“Are you trying to tell me you fancy me, Greg?” she asked, her eyes wide and her mouth forming a small O when she was done speaking.

“Yes. Yes, I am. I've known you for years. I think we're fairly close. We could, if you wanted, make a go of things. If you don't want to I understand, and I will never bring it up again, but in a week it would be a real possibility. No sneaking around, no lying to everyone. We could be honest and upfront from the get go.”

She looked at what was left of her beer. He fancied her. Greg Lestrade _actually_ fancied her. And she had to admit, she'd wondered what might happen between them, once he left his wife and she had started to realize Anderson could never give her what she wanted. She'd had the thoughts of a happy life with him, but she'd written it off as impossible. Now...now it was quite possible. She then pushed the beer away. “Let's go get dinner, and maybe follow it up with a movie. Go on an actual date.”

“You're still my subordinate right now,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, but only for a week. No one has to know if we start dating now or then. We can be discreet for a week.” She turned to look at him and gave him a wide smile, one wider than she had worn all day. “I would like it very much if you would join me for those two things, Greg. See what an actual date feels like for me.”

“You haven't been out on a date before?” he asked, surprised.

“Not a proper one, no,” she replied as she shook her head. “Not in the whole time I've been dating.”

He looked at his pint glass and picked it up, swirling the ale slightly. Then he took a long swallow. “All right, Sally. Let's go out on a date. I'll even let you choose the movie. I'll make the best of anything you want to watch.”

“Right now I want to watch something funny or something where stuff blows up. What sounds more appealing to you?”

He tilted his head slightly as he thought. “Stuff blowing up, I think. Then we can imagine Anderson is the villain who gets his in the end.”

“And you're the dashing hero?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why can't I be the hero?”

“Too bad there's not another Lara Croft movie. I could see you as Lara Croft and me as the blonde Daniel Craig character, and Anderson as the prick who wanted to control time.”

“Anderson would never be that cultured. Or that smart,” Sally pointed out.

“But he gets it in the end,” Lestrade said with a grin. “I have that movie at home, if you feel like having a night in. I mean, we can order take-out and enjoy both of the movies.”

“There's a second one?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yeah. Not quite as good as the first, but still not bad. We could do a double feature. I know it's not a real date, but it could be fun.”

She smiled at him. “I'd like fun. All right, Greg. We can go to your place and get take-out and watch movies. It may not be a typical date, but I somehow get the feeling that if this gets serious we won't be a typical couple.”

“Well, I'm just glad you're giving me a chance.” He pushed his drink away slightly. “Come on. I know a great Thai place near my home. Let's go and have good food and good movies.”

She pushed her own drink back and stood up. “That sounds like a plan.” He stood up as well and tentatively offered her his hand. She grasped it tightly, surprised at how well it fit. And then they were off, leaving the bar and stepping out into the night. She had to admit, this was not the turn she had expected her night to take, but she was eager to see just what unfolded from this unexpected and welcome surprise.


End file.
